Off to Aberdeen
by Cehsja
Summary: Abby and Lester head off to Aberdeen to investigate an anomaly. Chapter 3 Posted.
1. Chapter 1

The fact that there had been no anomaly call-ins since Friday was the only saving grace the past weekend had had, Abby grumpily reflected to herself. It had rained every day, and it wasn't even a fun sort of rain, like a thunderstorm. It was just wet, windy, dreary and miserable. The days were grey and cloudy and dark.

If Connor had been around they could have watched a movie or two or three. They could have made popcorn and tea. They could have had a candlelight dinner and danced, they could have… Well, there was no use dwelling on what could have been, she scolded herself. And besides, she could have watched a movie on her own. In fact she had, but it wasn't the same without him.

She had _seen_ Connor over the weekend, briefly, for a few moments here and there. He was always busy these days with projects from Phillip and she wondered sometimes if he even remembered she existed. She could only hope that this was a brief stage in their lives, a phase that they would look back upon and remember, happy it was over, but she feared that maybe it wasn't so temporarily and she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle living with a boyfriend she never saw.

And now it was Monday. Abby trudged into ARC, her thoughts werre gloomy but she was relieved to be back to work. At least at work she could surround herself with company and distractions. The first of those distractions was the anomaly alert she could hear blaring even as she entered the building. She hastily dropped her purse and keys into her locker and picked up her pace to an almost-sprint as she headed to the ADD. She didn't full out sprint because she didn't want Lester yelling at her to stop running in the corridors. The rest of the team was already there, looking at the co-ordinates on the screen in front of them. All except Connor that was. Lately he'd even been ignoring the anomaly alerts he was so busy with Philip. He said that Philip wanted the others to handle them while he did "bigger and more important things."

"Where is it?" Abby asked, as she peeked over Becker's shoulder at the screen.

"Aberdeen," Jess replied, the surprise in her voice clearly evident.

" _Scotland?!"_

"Yes, Abby," Becker responded, sarcastically teasing her. "That _is_ where Aberdeen is."

Abby rolled her eyes at him. "Well, alright, I guess we're going on a _looong_ car ride then."

"Actually," Matt spoke up, "Emily and I need to work on finding Ethan. Right now that is of utmost importance."

"That's fine," Abby smiled, "Becker and I can handle it, can't we, Becker?"

Becker shook his head. "Sorry, Abs. You know all the ARC staff needs to be military trained now, except those of you who were grandfathered in, and… well, let's just say with the influx of anomalies lately, we haven't completed our mandatory annual training update review stuff. It's due today and we could lose a lot of funding if we don't finish."

Abby frowned, "Well I know Connor's out, so what? I'm on my own?"

"I'd spare a couple of soldiers, but they all need to be retrained…"

"Seriously? You expect me to drive out to Aberdeen on my own, haul up the equipment and deal with who-knows-what could come through and the closest back-up is nine hours away? You at least gotta give me Jess."

Becker instinctively and immediately stepped in front of her chair. "Jess is _not_ properly trained to be out in the field."

"No but she can keep me company and keep a lookout."

"I can keep a lookout better from here," Jess pointed out, gesturing to the ADD.

"Fine!" Abby threw her hands into the air, not sure if she was more angry or frustrated. "Fine, I'm going. Toss me an EMD will you? If I'm not back in three days maybe one of you can send Connor to find me, yeah?"

"Relax, Abs," Matt said. "We're not going to send you off on your own."

* * *

" _Where the bloody hell is my bag?"_ James Lester thundered as he loaded the EMD Power Pack into the boot of an ARC SUV. _"_ _I am_ not _going on this road trip without my bag!"_

"Relax," Jess giggled. "The back seat lifts up for storage and I put it in there already."

"Relax?!" Lester turned to her incredulously. "Jess, do you have any idea how this creature-hunting thing works? Should I sleep at the wheel? Or wait until we find the creature and then just let it eat me? Trust me, relaxing is _not_ a part of our job descriptions here."

"As far as we can tell, there hasn't even _been_ a creature incursion," Jess pointed out.

"Well we've got another nine hours of driving time for one to come through before we arrive. Why aren't we flying again?"

"Because Scottish officials are unsure what the anomaly is and suspect some form of terrorism. They have closed all air-travel in and out."

"We know that's ridiculous," Lester pointed out.

"Yes we do, but they don't and unless you want to tell them truth, we aren't flying in. And if we do tell them the truth, we're still not flying in, but we may become the laughing stock of the Scottish Daily. So we're driving."

"We?"

"You and Abby," Jess allowed the correction. "I'm staying here."

Lester sighed and took the driver's seat and Abby climbed in beside him.

* * *

"So," Connor asked nervously as he looked up from his project to glance at the rest of the team. "How mad do you think Lester and Abby are going to be when they find out we faked the anomaly?"

 **Stay Tuned for More.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Can we _please_ turn this off now?" Abby grumbled, gesturing towards the radio.

"No."

"You've heard the same news stories three times over already! Let's put some music on! Have a little fun!"

"We are not supposed to be having fun, Abigail. We are supposed to be working."

"We're commuting. We'll start working when we get there."

"Good, then I can wait until we're there to start paying you too. In the meantime, I'm the driver, so I pick the channel."

"I'll drive."

"No, you won't."

Abby sighed and reached over to change the station and grinned as the energetic sound of S Club 7 filled the air. Lester glared at her. "Whatever happened to subordination to one's boss?"

"Give it up, Lester. We both know you've never hired a Yes-Man before. Rebellious behaviour is practically a part of the job description here."

"Note to self: Edit job descriptions. And you're forgetting Oliver Leek."

"Yeah, that turned out well," Abby responded sarcastically.

"Jenny usually listened."

"She quit. You're just gonna have to face it, Lester, your most loyal staff are those of us who break the rules."

Lester heaved a grumpy sigh, but he didn't change the station back and Abby was sure she detected a slight smile beneath his stern expression.

* * *

"Jess!" Connor demanded her attention as he briskly stepped into the HUB. "Are you finished with the air-locks yet?"

"Just about," she smiled at him cheerfully as she punched a few buttons. "There, done!"

"Great. Becker and his soldiers are going to transport the creatures into the empty offices for now. Make sure you can lock each office the moment the creatures are in. Once the menagerie has been emptied and the offices secured, you can come join us and we'll really get started."

"Are you _sure_ we can finish the new menagerie before Lester and Abby return?"

"I don't see why not, we've got all the soldiers helping us, but we'll have to hurry for sure."

* * *

Lester had finally had enough. They'd been listening to some horrific pop music station for the past three hours now and even Abby seemed to be tired of it. At any rate she'd long ago stopped dancing around and singing to it and was now, thankfully, just watching out the window quietly. He reached over and turned the radio off completely, hoping for some silence.

Abby immediately turned to him with that teasing smile he pretended to loathe. "I was wondering how long you were going to let me listen to that for. It was longer than I'd expected."

Lester ignored her, not allowing himself to be sucked in. He stared pointedly on the road as if concentrating hard on his driving, but they were pretty much going through the middle of nowhere, and there was no traffic coming from either direction.

"Are you nervous?" Abby asked suddenly. "I mean, you don't work in the field very often."

"No." He honestly wasn't, but as _if_ he would have told her if he was. He shouldn't have bothered to answer such a stupid question.

"Probably a nice change, actually. I'd go mad sitting there doing paperwork all day and dealing with the higher ups who don't really understand what we're up against here. I couldn't handle your job for even a day, I have no idea how you manage."

"So now you're going to try and butter me up? It's not like you to suck up to the boss, Ms. Maitland."

"We all think you're a great boss, Lester, but if I was going to suck up to you, I'd follow your rules, wouldn't I? I still have no intentions of doing that, and I think this would be a great time to establish that if a creature comes through, I'm pulling rank on you and giving the orders."

"You can't pull rank when you don't have rank, Ms. Maitland."

"In a life or death situation where _your_ orders are likely to get either us or the creature killed, I don't really care about technicalities like that."

"You never do regardless of the situation."

"That's because I have really good instincts and my personal judgement is more likely to be correct."

"And that's why I haven't fired you. You're not a bad worker, Ms. Maitland."

"That was almost a sweet thing to say."

* * *

"I still can't believe they both bought the anomaly in Aberdeen thing!" Connor shook his head with amusement as rolled some more light green paint onto the wall. "As if we'd send Lester and Abby nine hours away with no back-up whatsoever."

"They were probably bored stiff and happy to go, regardless of their words," Emily pointed out as she helped him paint.

"I can see why Lester would be bored," Connor admitted, "All that paper work would drive anyone to insanity, but Abby has a pretty exciting gig here."

"Sure, but what has she done lately, Con?" Matt pointed out. "Trust me, she's been getting bored. She told me. You're never there for her anymore, and all weekend we hid the anomalies from her so she wouldn't come near the ARC. What'd she do while you were here working on the menagerie plans?"

Connor gave him a look of annoyance. "Not there for her? It wasn't Lester I made plans to redo the menagerie for?! This is gonna be _huge_ to Abby. I've been working on it for ages."

"He's right though, Con," Jess pointed out. "Abby misses you. Sure she'll be impressed and ecstatic with the gesture but… well I know if I had a boyfriend I'd prefer to spend time with him than have him give me gifts, even huge ones."

Connor glanced at the soldiers working behind him at hauling dirt and trees into the menagerie before responding, "So you think I should have scrapped the entire idea and just spent the weekend watching Star Wars with her instead?"

"Of course not, and she'll forgive you for one boring weekend when she sees this for sure, but try spending a little more time with her when we're done, alright? She needs you."

"I know," Connor said after a bit of consideration. "You're right. I'll try harder. And Jess, I think someone over _there_ needs _you_." He gestured behind himself with a little nod.

Jess glanced around, puzzled, until she noticed that Becker was cursing under his breath at the laptop she'd set up in the middle of the room with all the drafts and schedules everyone needed to follow to get the menagerie makeover completed on time. The frustration on his face told her that it was a computer issue that was making him angry and she giggled as she made her way over to help.

 **Chapter 3 Coming Soon**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Lester," Abby inquired after a long but surprisingly _not_ awkward silence. "Can we stop for a bit and a cuppa? I'm hungry."

"Ms. Maitland, I presume that I do not have to remind you of the rather time-sensitive nature of your line of duty? You are not a toddler and you can wait until we've dealt with the creatures before we stop for lunch."

"There hasn't even been an incursion yet."

"We both know that something could come through at any time, and I'd personally like to be there to close it before that happens."

"I also know that nourishment is very important in our field of work. If something does come through before we arrive, I would prefer not to be weak and faint from hunger when trying to run from it. I haven't eaten since last night."

"Unwise to skip breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day."

"I know, Connor always said the same. He used to cook for me in the mornings and insist I eat because otherwise I don't tend to care. Lately he's been too busy. If he doesn't care, why should I?"

Lester hesitated, unsure how to explain that her own value didn't lie solely upon what Connor thought of her, without coming across as being soft. He knew she'd had a hard past, he'd read her file when hiring her and, unbeknownst to Abby, the things written in it had almost cost her the job. He'd felt that anyone who had been through some of the things that Abby had would be too, well, damaged, to work in a stressful environment. But she'd been good with the creatures and he'd seen that Connor was able to stabilize her mood swings quite early on just by being there, so he'd decided to keep her onboard. It'd started out as a trial, but thanks to Connor simple presence and loyalty to the girl, she'd quickly become one of the strongest members on the team, in his eyes.

He turned off the motorway and into the nearest town, looking for a place to grab a quick meal. "I'm sure he cares, Abby," he finally said softly. "Philip is just keeping him really busy right now."

"I hate Philip."

"So do I, but if you repeat that sensitive information, I'll fire you."

Abby grinned, "The car's bugged to the ARC you know, he could be listening in."

Lester looked ready to panic, until Abby shook her head with a laugh and continued, "Relax, they can only hear us if we use the comms. Wanna play a game of would you rather? I'll go first. Would you prefer to work with Philip or Christine Johnson."

Lester was relieved enough to actually join in. "I'd rather work with a velociraptor than either of them."

"You have to pick one."

"Christine, I suppose. Well your turn, April or Oliver?"

"Ugh… April I guess. I could take her down any day."

"You could take Leek down too."

"True."

* * *

"I hope you were taking notes," Connor stated casually as he approached Becker.

Becker shrugged, "There wasn't anything to take notes on, the drafts were just rotated on the computer and I was looking at them sideways. Jessica fixed it."

"I wasn't talking about your computer issues."

"Then what?"

"You're more obvious than you think you are. I saw your ears perk up when Jess started her advice to me by saying what she'd want from anyone that _she_ dated."

"I may not be armed at the moment, Temple," Becker growled, "But I can still do a lot of damage with this here shovel I'm digging with. And my ears do _not_ move."

"They're almost catlike when Jess is involved," Connor retorted. "Anyways, you do realise that your job is to protect her, right?"

"What's that have to do with anything. My job is to protect all of you. If you were to ask Abby, that includes the creatures."

"And that's why she doesn't let you hurt them. And that's also why you've never shot Matt back. Hurting someone goes against everything you stand for in your job position."

"Connor, what are you on about?"

"I'm just saying that if you hurt Jess, you've gone and done the very opposite of what you're supposed to be doing. Don't you want a girlfriend? A wife one day, maybe? I know I do."

"Sure, but what's that have to do with Jess? We work together and she's pretty much everything I despise in one person… hyper, naïve, _way_ too cheerful, blindingly colourful…"

"I'm gonna stop you right there and just say that your excuses are thin at best. Abby and I work together, and so do Emily and Matt. And everyone knows that opposites attract. I'm just telling you that Jess fancies you, a lot. And if you decide to start seeing someone besides Jess, ever, she's going to be hurt. The best way to avoid that, is to just date Jess. If you look at it that way, it falls totally in your job description. You're protecting her from being hurt by asking her out."

"When you put it like that, I feel like Lester should be paying for our dates."

Connor shrugged with a grin, "So send him a bill."

* * *

"It's gotta be around here somewhere," Abby said, looking puzzled at the co-ordinates on her phone.

"You'd think," Lester responded. "There really doesn't seem to be anywhere for an anomaly to hide here, does there?"

Abby shook her head, "I better phone the ARC and get them to check on it for us."

"Speaking of the ARC, I feel as though there has been a serious lack of communication between Jess and us. If it was anyone else I'd be writing them up for not doing their job properly."

Abby chose not to comment on his notable favouritism, mainly because she knew herself to also be one of Lester's 'favourites'. Instead she nodded as she dialled, "You'd think my boyfriend would have at least called once to check up on me, even if he is busy."

Lester was saved from having to come up with a response when someone answered Abby's phone at the other end. Abby docked the phone and put it on speaker so they could both hear. "Alright Jess, where's the anomaly?" she demanded.

" _Oh,"_ Came Jess' response through the speaker. " _Are you there already? Look, Abby, I am soooo sorry, I meant to call, but I got distracted, but the anomaly closed hours ago! So you know, maybe just search around for signs of an incursion and head back?"_

Abby frowned, annoyed, and glanced at Lester whose face had turned red, but whom had bed left speechless for the moment. "Really, Jess?" She didn't normally lose it on Jess, but she was tired and already annoyed, and she let temper flare. "You couldn't have stopped what you were doing for _one_ moment to tell us it was closed? You should have _known_ if there was an incursion if you were watching the anomaly! What the hell were you doing that was so distracting?"

* * *

Jess looked ready to burst into tears, she wasn't used to being yelled at, especially not by Abby. She knew that when Abby found out the truth she'd be grateful for what they were doing, but it didn't make her feel any better at the moment. Connor and Becker stood beside her, listening in, and Connor noted that Becker looked ready to grab the phone and smash it. He was pretty sure that Becker and Abby would be having a few words when Abby got back.

"I-I…" Jess stammered, as she gave Connor a pleading look, and gesturing for him to try and help her come up with a believable excuse on the spot for why she hadn't been watching the anomaly. Connor jotted something down for her own a piece of paper and Jess grabbed it and blurted out the excuse he had made her. "I was using the CCTV to watch Becker train the soldiers!"

Then she blushed and if looks could kill, Connor would have died a very agonizing death.

 **Stay Tuned for Chapter 4**


End file.
